


The Contentment of Kings

by tielan



Category: Summers at Castle Auburn - Sharon Shinn
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-21
Updated: 2018-12-21
Packaged: 2019-09-24 02:33:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17092406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tielan/pseuds/tielan
Summary: I've never written for this fandom before, so this is new for me.





	The Contentment of Kings

**Author's Note:**

  * For [partypaprika](https://archiveofourown.org/users/partypaprika/gifts).



> I've never written for this fandom before, so this is new for me.

My father was unhappy with my chosen bride.

It was not unexpected.

Our party had been seen from down the road, my arrival with Corie and the guards hardly a procession to go unnoticed, unlike my departure from the castle, which had been achieved without undue fuss. The guards had sent ahead to report our coming long before we rode up to the gates, and a crowd of people had gathered in the coutyard, many servants and a few of the more canny nobles ‘out for a stroll’.

Corie looked about her as I dismounted in the courtyard, and waved at someone she knew.

I had only half-turned to look when the castle doors were pulled open. Faces began appearing at the upper windows as visiting nobility who had heard the commotion came to see what was happening.

My father came striding out of the castle doors, heedless of the people he scattered with his coming.

“Kentley!” He planted his feet in the courtyard of the castle as I reached up to help Corie dismount, every doorway filled with people, every window crowded with faces as he glared at us. “What is the meaning of this?

Corie met my gaze as I helped her down from her mount. She didn’t reach for me, but I wanted to reach for her hand, to draw her against me, to show her publically as mine as I had longed to do for more years than now seemed bearable. But she was not one to either seek refuge if she could meet it squarely, nor hide away.

“Hello, Matthew,” she said, level and serene.

My father gritted his teeth. “You were banished!”

“I am rescinding that banishment, father,” I told him. I made my words clear, projecting loud enough that anyone listening might hear and know. “Since Corie has agreed to marry me, it would be awkward if the queen of Auburn were banished from her own castle.”

Amidst the gasps and scattered squeals of surprise, I took Corie’s hand in mine. She turned her palm so our hands could clasp, and we shared a smile between us. Let nobody doubt that this was real for both of us, not the bloodless betrothal of Bryan and Elisandra.

“You...” My father looked like he would burst a blood vessel right there in front of everyone present, and while I regretted his outrage, I could not let him or anyone else stand in doubt of my intent.

“The Lady Coriel Halsing has consented to marry me,” I repeated. “At the end of the summer, hopefully.”

“Autumn,” she corrected. “There’s not enough time to arrange a marriage in summer. And it’ll be more difficult with the harvests, I know, but if we time it right—”

It was so like Corie to so cheerfully contradict me. I might be King Kentley to the nobles and commoners standing here, but I would always be ‘Kent’ to her, and I loved her all the more for it.

“I think we’d better discuss this inside,” I said, leading her through the courtyard, and up into the castle.

“Corie!” The gleeful shriek came from Lady Angela, a minor noblewoman who Corie had befriended. “You’re back!”

Perhaps I should have been irritated at the speed with which Corie dropped my hand and went to greet her, but I could not find it in me to be jealous. Others also loved her, with her kindness and her spirit and her enthusiasm for life. They had also missed her in her absence, just as I had. And while her responsibilities as my wife and her duties as queen would loom large in her life, she would also have friends and companions who should have a portion of her time. Their love for her would help her manage court life all the year long and not just the summers she had spent here in the past.

Still, we had many things to see done before the end of the day, not least of which was to have this out with my father, who was coming up the stairs and into the entryway of the castle, once again, barely heeding the people around him.

“In my study, if you please, Kent.”

The brusque tone of demand would have been a frank insult from anyone else. From the man who had been the Regent for ten years and was my father besides, it was, perhaps, more understandable. Still, he sometimes required the reminder that I was no longer just his son but his king.

“In _my_ study, father.” I watched him turn in the corridor. “And we will be along just as soon as Corie is finished greeting her friends.”

I knew it would not be long; Corie would not ignore all else to see to her own pleasure. And, indeed, after promising to meet with Angela later, she turned to me and held out her hand with a smile.

As we moved through the castle, she murmured, “I gather you did not tell your father your intentions towards me?”

“No,” I told her. “But I did not tell anyone.”

Loving Corie was a secret I had held for at least two years before Elisandra’s marriage – the leap of my spirits when she came to the castle in summer, the news of her that Elisandra provided unknowing through the autumn and winter and spring, and the knowledge that she was not for me.

Bryan’s death had changed that – as it had changed many things.

Not least of which was my relationship with my father.

My father was standing before the fireplace in the study I used for the work of ruling. It was a large room and in the middle of winter, it could get bitterly cold. I led Corie in beside me, and closed the door behind us.

“I banished her for a reason, Kent!”

“And you had the authority to do so back then. I have the authority now, and I have brought her back for my own reasons.”

“For an infatuation.” His voice dripped with scorn. “When Megan of Tregonia has been perfectly willing—”

“Megan may be willing, but I am not,” I reminded him, making no mention of his sneer about my feelings for for Corie. “A Halsing bride is traditional, and Elisandra has already remarried.”

There was no need to mention Bryan’s death and its cause. I had spoken my thoughts to Corie; I would say them to no-one else. What proof was there to give, a year and more after his death? The only ones who knew the details were Corie and myself and Elisandra – and Corie would never betray her sister. So I told myself, and hoped I was not simply protecting the two women I loved most in the world.

“She is a thief and an ungrateful one at that!”

“For what did I have to be grateful? I had clothing and a roof above my head before Jaxon came to bring me here. I had love and a living and a life set out for me! You wanted me as nothing more than a pawn for your alliances, not for myself – and no amount of pampering can offset that. No-one is _grateful_ to be used as a bargaining piece. And,” she added fiercely, “I am no thief, for what is not property cannot be stolen.”

“We paid money for the aliora—”

“From hunters who captured them against their will and shackled them to keep them from escaping.” Corie drew breath. “If Jaxon may marry the queen of the aliora – if she is his wife – then the aliora are not property but _people_. And if they are people, then they are not things to be owned.”

I thought it wise to step in at this point. This was not an argument that would go anywhere now. My father was set in his ways and his thoughts on this matter, and if his mind changed it would be slow. “Whether you or the realm see her as a thief or not, father, Corie _will_ be my wife.” 

“The viceroys will never stand for her to be queen after what she’s done!”

“It is not up to the viceroys,” I reminded him. “It’s my choice. I already have the approval of Elisandra and Corie’s grandmother and Corie’s consent. And although I should like your acceptance of it, I don’t need it. You are my father and your experience of ruling the realm is valuable, but I will not bend on this point. You can accept Corie as my wife, or you can walk away from Auburn.”

“You would banish me?”

“No. You would be free to come and go, just not to disparage my wife. Corie must know that I am on her side, over and above any responsibility or duty to you.”

“And is she over and above any responsibility or duty you have to the realm?”

“That will depend on the responsibility being invoked on behalf of the realm,” I told him. “My duty to the realm is its safety and unity, not its prosperity – particularly not through the enslavement of aliora.”

This was a matter that was already in dispute in the realm. While I was not presently in a position to outlaw the hunting and capture of the aliora at this point, there were signs that many people weren’t sorry to see the aliora released. Marrying Corie would be a further notice that the practise of keeping aliora would not be so leniently considered in future.

“I don’t expect your blessing,” I said, “only your acquiescence to this marriage.”

It pained me to say as much; but the last few months had shown me that I could not afford leniency towards my father, of all people. Not if I wished to rule as king, instead of merely a figurehead to my father’s will.

Bitterness flickered in his eyes. “You seem set on this course of action – never mind that it will cost you everything we’ve worked for in the last ten years – and I’m in no position to stop you. So take her, if that’s what you want. I will not be party to it.”

He stalked past us, threw open the door, and walked out. The man waiting patiently outside the door stepped neatly aside to let my father storm past and off down the corridor.

“It’s new to see you so...authoratative,” Corie said, stepping closer to me. “I rather like it.”

“A great deal has changed since you were last here.” I beckoned the man at the door to come in. “Corie, this is Dillen. He worked with my father all through the regency, mostly on the day-to-day issues of governance in Auburn. Since Bryan’s died, he’s been invaluable to me.” Apart from being the man who managed the practicalities of laws and how Auburn ran, Dillen had also provided a perspective of the realm that was not solely informed by my father or the viceroys or nobles.

Having learned to listen to more than just the highborn through my conversations with Roderick, I had asked for Dillen’s thoughts on situations more than once and found his answers worth considering, even if I didn’t agree with them.

“Lady Coriel.” Dillen bowed. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”

“The pleasure is mine if you’ve been helping Kent with the details of governance.”

“Only a little, my lady. His Majesty is more than adequate to the kingship and all it’s requirements.” Dillen’s glance at me held a hint of a smile. He enjoyed teasing me, although he’d never done it around other people before – not even my father.

“Dillen, I won’t be seeing anyone today, I think. Lady Coriel and I have been travelling for four days, and we’d like to rest – especially after the confrontation with father. If there’s nothing that needs to be dealt with right this instant...?”

“There’s nothing that can’t wait, your Majesty.” Dillen waved a thin hand as though to indicate whatever had come up in my absence was nothing. “It can be dealt with when you have the attention for it. And please accept my heartfelt congratulations to you and the Lady Coriel on your engagement.”

We crossed from the study through a side passage, to the ‘public’ rooms of the royal apartments where I had moved some six months previously. In sitting room, Corie promptly flung herself into one of the chairs, her skirts frothing around her ankles.

“I never imagined I’d return to Castle Auburn after I’d been banished. And if I had imagined it, I’d never have imagined I’d find myself arguing with Matthew about the aliora. Although,” she added, “I suppose that it’s going to continue to be an issue with him in the future.”

“It might.” I seated myself in the chair beside hers. “I hope it won’t.”

“He’s still your father, even when you don’t see eye to eye.” 

“Yes. But there seem to be more and more things where we don’t see eye to eye,” I murmured.

There was no doubt that he was proud of me, that he was proud of the king that I was and would become, but in the last month, I had seen growing signs of short temper and a discontent that seemed out of character for the man I had known and respected all the years of the regency. There had been whispers that my father was not so happy to relinquish the regency when faced with a king who would rule in his own right and be respected by the Viceroys in spite of his youth, and that it would be doubly stinging that it was his own son who was raised above him. I had given them no credence before this, but of late I had begun to wonder.

I thought for a few moments that Corie might ask about my relationship with my father, but she seemed to sense my disquiet, for when she spoke, her tone was light. “And you don’t see eye to eye in your choice of bride.” 

“Particularly not in that.”

I held out my hands to her, and when she stood to take them, I tugged her gently into my lap. We were still growing accustomed to each other – to holding hands, standing close beside each other, kissing. But there’d been no chance for me to pull her into my arms and sit with her, and then we had been travelling on the road with the guards, heading for Auburn. To be able to do so now... 

Here, in these apartments, it was just us. Someday, I thought, resting my chin against her shoulder, it would be our children, too, but right now—

“Are you quite sure about this, Kent?”

“I have no doubts about this.” I lifted my head from her shoulder. “You aren’t rethinking marrying me _now_ are you?”

“No,” she smiled and leaned down to kiss me full on the mouth. “I’m quite sure of myself and of you.”

And with Corie in my arms and our promised love and living ahead of us, I could be content.


End file.
